Mining environments, particularly open pit surface mining environments, present unique challenges to maintaining proper operation of vehicles. The workhorse of a modern surface mine is a mine haul truck, which is a dump truck capable of hauling up to four hundred, and in some case over four hundred, tons of material. Haul trucks are some of the largest land vehicles ever built. As such, they are characterized by relatively slow acceleration and deceleration, and poor sight lines on every side of the vehicle. In particular, the rear and side opposite to the operator's cabin of a mine-haul truck can present enormous blind spots for the haul truck operator.
Over the course of normal mine operations, a haul truck can be expected to travel throughout the mining facility to carry out specific functions. In one example of conventional pit mining operations, material that is blasted from a rock face is loaded into a haul truck by a large shovel. The haul truck then transports this excavated material to a different area of the mining facility for processing by a crusher. Processed material may then be transported to another area of the mine for commercial offloading. Waste from the mine, such as soil and rock removed to gain access to ore, must also be removed to prevent impeding further mining operations. Often these processes of loading and transporting the material throughout the mining facility tend to be a rate-limiting step in the operating process of a mine. To overcome this many haul trucks are in operation simultaneously in order to facilitate continuous engagement in the transportation of materials. A delay or impediment to haul truck operations can cause disruptions to the whole transport process, particularly if it is due to infrastructure problems, such as the haul truck roads.
Haul truck roads are a critical component of the transportation of mining materials. Due to the nature of the mining enterprise, haul roads are not necessarily permanent fixtures within the facility. As the size of the mine expands or operations shift to different areas of the facility, haul roads can be modified to accommodate these changes. This can include altering routing and building or rebuilding new sections of roads. Even with well-planned design and construction, haul roads require continual monitoring and maintenance for optimal operation. Underperforming truck operation along haul roads can contribute to loss of productivity in a number of ways. It can cause delays in the transportation of material within the mine, and cause stress to the components of the haul truck, reducing longevity and increasing maintenance cost.
Because vehicles such as haul trucks are so massive, they have large turning radii and slow braking capabilities, making maneuvering the vehicles along haul roads relatively difficult. This can be exacerbated by slip events, where a loss of traction or stability due to wheel slip, over- or understeer, can lead to a temporary loss of control of the vehicle. Over- and understeer situations are characterized by times when the direction of vehicle travel does not align with its heading, or direction the vehicle is facing. This can worsen the sluggish maneuverability of the vehicle and in extreme cases, cause a loss of control. The massive size and weight of haul trucks means that inefficiencies in their operation, such as correcting for slip-events or vehicle recovery in the event of an accident, can cause appreciable monetary cost.